Americans favorite sports

Spenser · Post by **Spenser** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 12:32 pm

1. The sport of choice for the urban poor is BASKETBALL.

2. The sport of choice for maintenance level employees is BOWLING.

3. The sport of choice for front-line workers is FOOTBALL.

4. The sport of choice for supervisors is BASEBALL.

5. The sport of choice for middle management is TENNIS.

6. The sport of choice for corporate executives and officers is GOLF.

So, I guess the conclusion from this is that the farther you go in the corporate structure, the smaller your balls become.

So therefore, one might conclude from this, that there must be a ton of people in Washington playing marbles.

jww · Post by **jww** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 11:43 am

Not American, but I still like the notion that football (soccer for the non-initiated) is a game for gentlemen played by hooligans, while rugby is a game for hooligans played by gentlemen. I chuckle at it every time I hear or think of it, and realize how true it is whenever I watch either sport. Love them both, though.

brothers · Post by **brothers** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 12:01 pm

Very funny! I admit I've gained a new respect for basketball, along with everyone else that lives where we do. That is a direct result of having our home town in the NBA now. I really enjoy watching rugby. I think I would have tried my hand at playing it when I was a lot younger, and if I'd been about 60 pounds heavier, with the matching physique that would have dictated.

Post by **drmoss_ca** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 4:00 pm

The most watchable game involving a ball has to be cricket. The secret is to get a seat in the shade that is close to the beer concession. Eventually it all makes sense and becomes quite entrancing.

Chris
silly mid on

brothers · Post by **brothers** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 4:07 pm

I would love to be able to share a couple of beers with you in the shade on a warm late spring day watching a lively match of cricket.

rsp1202 · Post by **rsp1202** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 9:08 pm

I miss having baseball as the real national pastime, when there be giants on the field and in the commissioner's office. Now I'd rather watch curling.

Gene · Post by **Gene** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 9:31 pm

rsp1202 wrote:I miss having baseball as the real national pastime, when there be giants on the field and in the commissioner's office. Now I'd rather watch curling.

Me too, although golf is up there, too. I read a blurb about golf, and how they are the only professional athlete's who essentially eat what they kill each week. make the cut - get a nice check. Don't make the cut - go home.

Curling is kind of like bar room shuffleboard, isn't it?

JayTrek · Post by **JayTrek** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 9:55 pm

Great, Spenser!!!

I love football (or throwball as I call it)

I love baseball.

I really enjoy watching rugby...and some Aussie footy is great entertainment.

However, my favorite sports are ice hockey and football (round).

I have in the last two weeks grown into an appreciation for handball...as it seems a mashup of basketball, hockey, and football (round).

Doc, I tried...I simply cannot watch cricket.

I have always seen curling as Canadian bowling. Just saying...

Scrapyard Ape · Post by **Scrapyard Ape** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 11:29 pm

drmoss_ca wrote:.... The secret is to get a seat in the shade that is close to the beer concession. Eventually it all makes sense and becomes quite entrancing.

Umm..... get enough beer in you and EVERYTHING becomes quite entrancing.

joe mcclaine · Post by **joe mcclaine** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:51 am

Brilliant! Like it.

Of course, being English it's Rugby and Cricket for me ... with the odd game of Ice Hockey thrown in.

It must be a pure coincidence that you can sit down with a beer at these.

Used to play rugby at school (mostly on the coldest mornings in winter). Always nice to bring down the posing, racing snakes of the football team and flatten the school bullies before lunch.

ThePossum · Post by **ThePossum** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:52 am

Well, I have to chime in here. My #1 sport is baseball. When I was a kid it was America's "National Passtime". Been going to Pittsburgh Pirate games now for 55 years in a row. Yes, they stink now but there were and hopefully soon will be winning seasons for my beloved Buccos.

Pretty fond of hockey as well. Penguins are my team.

Football, okay I guess, only when nothing else to do will I watch it on tv. And I used to be a Steeler season tix holder. My problem now is that the sport is way over-hyped.

The one sport that I would really like to see more often, but there is nothing available to me in the USA, is curling. Got to watching it on the Winter Olympics telecast in 2006 and again in 2010. Kinda like baseball, lots of strategy and suspense over the course of the match. Only problem for me is that I only get to see it every four years. Ugh!

jww · Post by **jww** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 5:51 am

drmoss_ca wrote:The most watchable game involving a ball has to be cricket. The secret is to get a seat in the shade that is close to the beer concession. Eventually it all makes sense and becomes quite entrancing.

Chris
silly mid on

On our last trip to England, we stumbled across a town club in Derbyshire getting ready for a match with a local rival from elsewhere in The Peaks. It was in Ashford-in-the-water as I recall. We were engrossed by the pageantry and seriousness of the players and the game. My regret is that we didn't have the time to sit down on the grass and watch a bit with the other spectators. I never have had quite the same pull to watching it on TV, and since I got rid of SportsnetWorld, I don't have the chance to watch it on th' tele.

maskaggs · Post by **maskaggs** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 7:57 am

jww wrote:
drmoss_ca wrote:The most watchable game involving a ball has to be cricket. The secret is to get a seat in the shade that is close to the beer concession. Eventually it all makes sense and becomes quite entrancing.

Chris
silly mid on
On our last trip to England, we stumbled across a town club in Derbyshire getting ready for a match with a local rival from elsewhere in The Peaks. It was in Ashford-in-the-water as I recall. We were engrossed by the pageantry and seriousness of the players and the game. My regret is that we didn't have the time to sit down on the grass and watch a bit with the other spectators. I never have had quite the same pull to watching it on TV, and since I got rid of SportsnetWorld, I don't have the chance to watch it on th' tele.

I had never been to a hockey game until last Friday night, when Notre Dame played visiting Alaska. Even without knowing the slightest thing about the rules it was an enjoyable experience with a great third period. As you can imagine, the Alaskans won (but only by a single goal).

rsp1202 · Post by **rsp1202** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 9:02 am

Gene wrote:. . . I read a blurb about golf, and how they are the only professional athlete's who essentially eat what they kill each week. make the cut - get a nice check. Don't make the cut - go home. . .

I like that! (It's just so Ted Nugent.)

I also like playing golf, and I'll watch it, at least I used to. These days it's hard to cheer for a guy who's gonna win scads of dough for himself only (not just golf, but all pro sports). Guess the Ryder Cup is the last bastion of the old game.

Very nostalgic lately: old-time baseball, old-time golf. Twenty-first century blahs.

maskaggs · Post by **maskaggs** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 11:59 am

Gene wrote:
rsp1202 wrote:I read a blurb about golf, and how they are the only professional athlete's who essentially eat what they kill each week. make the cut - get a nice check. Don't make the cut - go home.

This is true for guys and gals breaking into the game, but is more reminiscent of Palmer's early days than anything. By now, most guys you see on TV make far more in endorsements than they do on the course - even if they lose, [insert athletic goods company] is still going to hand them an enormous check. The bottom of the field, the guys the camera never looks at - those are the ones who might have a livelihood depending on what happens Thursday and Friday.

Gene · Post by **Gene** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:38 pm

Mike, that's actually who I meant. There are pro's on the tour who essentially shoot par golf, plus or minus a stroke, every round, and they live or die based on making the cut.

Also - pro golfers are, so far as I know, the only professional athlete's who can have a win erased based on a phone call from an arm chair official. Remember Craig Stadler, when he "built" a stance with a towel? Alert viewer called the infraction in, they researched it and confronted Stadler. He had already signed his score card, meaning and instant DQ.

harsh!

maskaggs · Post by **maskaggs** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:01 pm

Gene wrote:Mike, that's actually who I meant. There are pro's on the tour who essentially shoot par golf, plus or minus a stroke, every round, and they live or die based on making the cut.

Also - pro golfers are, so far as I know, the only professional athlete's who can have a win erased based on a phone call from an arm chair official. Remember Craig Stadler, when he "built" a stance with a towel? Alert viewer called the infraction in, they researched it and confronted Stadler. He had already signed his score card, meaning and instant DQ.

harsh!

It would be nice if those fellas saw more camera time, but I suppose nobody wants to watch someone barely scrape by!

Oddly enough, the game's myriad rules are part of the charm to me. There are plenty of stories of golfers calling penalties on themselves for something as small as the ball moving during a stroke, or hitting a living plant, or what have you - one of the few sports where you'll actually still see gentlemanly conduct. Which isn't to say bad things don't go on, as well.

GA Russell · Post by **GA Russell** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 6:18 pm

God bless the internet! I am able to listen to every game of my beloved Canadian Football League, which in my view is the last of the North American leagues to not be a franchise hustle.

maskaggs · Post by **maskaggs** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 6:24 pm

GA Russell wrote:God bless the internet! I am able to listen to every game of my beloved Canadian Football League, which in my view is the last of the North American leagues to not be a franchise hustle.

American sports is a franchise hustle? No! I'm shocked!

rsp1202 · Post by **rsp1202** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 7:49 pm

maskaggs wrote:. . . There are plenty of stories of golfers calling penalties on themselves . . . one of the few sports where you'll actually still see gentlemanly conduct. . .

Yes, there is that.

. . . Which isn't to say bad things don't go on, as well.

The 1999 Ryder Cup demonstration would be an example of ungentlemanly conduct, and one reason why the Europeans have taken such pleasure in beating the Yanks for most of the following Cups.